A Violin For Violet
by Purple Panda Flurp
Summary: An orphan girl, an unknown father, an ability passed down for generations, a betrayal. Sound good? I'll put the rating at T for now, but I might change it to M later.
1. Chapter 1: Happy Birthday

Okay, so please don't be angry with me if it's not exactly what you want. I like comments, but don't just leave something like, "dat sux." or something stupid like that.

It might have a few grammar errors. Once again, completely totally sorry about that.

Well, I love you guys! That's right. I love you.

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Chapter One: Happy Birthday

Violet rubbed her eyes with her small hands wrapped in cotton sleeves. Her cold toes were also wrapped in the same fabric, as the blue and white striped pajamas were much too large for her. They made her feet make almost no sound across the wood floor as she walked. She hugged her arms close to her body. It was the dead of winter and the tall house hardly kept in any heat.

She tripped over her long pajama pants, landing on her hands, then finding no grip, slid flat onto her stomach. She grabbed the edge of the long dining table to help herself up, but was immediately shaken off her footing again by a person running past.

The person had two things in their hands. The person I recognized as Drew, one of the twins, threw a package wrapped in brown paper at me. "This is yours, twerp!" he yelled and tossed a football to his brother. Their baby blue eyes glinted as they concentrated, their fast reflexes making the game easy.

Violet picked up the package and stared down at it for just a moment. Then, through her sleepy haze, she recognized a signature on a little notecard loosely attatched by rough string. This was a very special signature indeed, and it had guided her all throughout her life.

She bolted to her room.

There was a four-bed-tall bunk bed leaned against the wall of the small room, barely large enough for the beds themselves. She climbed the ladder, not too worried about being loud because everyone was still awake even at one in the morning, and onto the very top bed. She almost screamed when she saw another girl up there with her. She was already so jittery from the excitement and wasn't expecting anyone to be in her bed.

A dim glow came from a candle in a small cake the girl was holding. "Happy eleventh, Violet," she smiled and held the cake out to me. Violet took it and put the candle up to the girl's face so she could see it better.

"Yuki!" she whispered ecstatically and hugged her. Yuki had been Violet's best friend for since the first time she had been excepted into a Young Ninja Battle. She was a little over a year older than her with long white hair and lavender eyes and a gift for water jutsu. "How'd you get here?" Violet asked.

"We walked some of the way, and when we got close enough to you, Gaara brought us in on sand," she smiled and tilted her head.

Violet pushed her eyebrows together. "What do you mean 'we'?"

Yuki smacked her head and laughed. "Oh, I almost forgot! The guys wanted to say happy birthday! Come on in!" she called through the window. One by one, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Gaara, Neji, Hinata, Lee, Kiba, and Tenten climbed through the window.

"Oh my gosh, guys!" she laughed and asked jokingly, "What, no Shikamaru and Choji?"

A two sets of eyes peeked through the window. "I think your bed might break if we come in," said Shikamaru.

Violet was laughing so hard now that she thought she might split her sides. "Well, thank you for your effort anyway," she said through giggles. "I can't believe you all came all this way just for my birthday!"

"Well believe it, girly!" Sakura hugged her and Violet hugged back warmly.

"We brought presents, too!" giggled Yuki and they all held out small boxes wrapped in violet ribbon.

Her hands went to the sides of her face instinctively. "You guys! You didn't have to do this!"

Sakura shook her finger. "Ah, ah, ah, but we did. You deserve to have at least one good birthday, and those jerks Drew and Jasper weren't going to give you one."

"Or did they?" Ino put her finger on the little brown package.

"O-oh, no, this isn't from them, actually... It's from my dad," Violet looked up at the shocked faces and then at Shikamaru and Choji. "You guys can come in if you want to stand on the ground."

They clambered in and jumped to the ground. "Your dad?" they asked wide-eyed.

"Well," Violet scratched her head nervously and smiled, "I haven't really told anyone, but every year on my birthday my dad sends me a present."

"Then why hasn't he come to get you?" asked Gaara angrily.

Violet shook her head. "I really don't know. But it's nice that he cares enough to send me a birthday present."

"Well, open it!" Sakura laughed.

She took and end of the string in her small, delicate hands and pulled the bow out. The paper crinkled as she carefully opened it, revealing a sleek, wooden violin and a bow to match.

Immediately, Gaara recognized it as the violin that had been stolen a few days ago. But he could definately, er, pull some strings to make the incident disappear. Just another added birthday present.

Lee leaned over to pick up the card that was about to fall off the bed. He put it between two of his fingers and read it out loud. "'A violin for my Violet - Dad'... Hey, wait... I know this insignia..."

Violet took it from his hand and said, "Must just be a coincidence."

Gaara caught a glimpse of it. He was sure he knew it too, but he couldn't quite place it. He made a note to look it up when he got home.

"PRESENT TIME!" Choji and Shikamaru threw their present up onto the bed.

Violet laughed. "Okay..." she said and opened theirs. "Wow!" she looked at it closer. "A black kunai knife! Thank you!" she leaned over the bed to tell them.

"It's from me, too," said Ino.

Almost everyone else sweat dropped. "What?"

"Well... That's what we got you." Naruto handed Violet three boxes, one with a white kunai, one with a light silver kunai, and one with a dark silver kunai. "Guys! Thank you so much!"

Yuki giggled. "Don't thank us, thank Gaara. He's the one who planned this."

He held out an open box to her. Insided was a hair clip with a rose entwined in it. "See, it's enchanted so it will live forever as long as you do and-" Gaara was stopped by a kiss on the cheek by Violet. His face blushed bright red.

"Thank you so much, Gaara."

He blinked and looked away. "It was no problem, really," he mumbled.

"Actually, it did take some planning. He got everything ready in advance, even got a special person to enchant that flower for you so that it would open more and more when you were close to him so you could find him if you ever needed help-" Sakura started, but was cutt off by Gaara.

"WELL THEN, I'm gonna go home, it's getting late, night everyone!" He waved and jumped out the window.

"Yeah, me, Lee, Kiba, Choji, and Neji have a few things to do in town here. Anyone want to come?" asked Shikamaru.

"I will!" Naruto smiled and jumped through the window, the rest following.

"For the record," Sasuke said, "I don't have business here. I don't want to follow them. I just want to leave."

"Okay, later." Violet rolled her eyes and Ino pushed him the rest of the way out. He yelled and grunted when he hit the ground.

Naruto caught up with Gaara and pounced on him from behind. "DUUUUDE! SCORE!"

Gaara blushed even more. "Shut up."

"Ooooh mah gawd. Violet." said Tenten.

"Hm?"

"You kissed him! Oh mah gawd!" Sakura waved her arms around.

"Aaaaand?"

Yuki put her hands on Violet's shoulders. "HE LIKES YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU DID?"

"Well, of course he likes me. We've been friends for like, ever."

"NO- ugh. He like-likes you. You know. In the smoochy-huggy kind of way." Ino explained.

I laughed and the other girls gave me a weird look. "How could the son of the Kazekage like a little orphan girl like me?"

"I don't think she gets it yet, girls. Maybe we'll revisit this topic in a few years, eh?" said Ino.

"I guess," sighed Tenten.

"Well, it was great getting to see you again, Violet. Enjoy your presents."

"Thanks, guys," Violet hugged them all and they left through the window.

Violet knocked twice on the lid of a box her father had sent her on her ninth birthday to open the secret compartment and she stuffed the card in with every other card her father had sent her, always written in red ink. The little clay bird sat on top of it, just looking at her. The lid of the box wouldn't open until her fourteenth birthday when the bird would supposedly come to life and open it.

Not until that moment had Violet noticed the little 'D' carved into the wood.


	2. Chapter 2: The Battle

Okay, I'm going to give some musical direction for these chapters because I have to listen to music to write. And believe me, when I do, I write like a maniac. So, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, cause I enjoyed writing it. ^-^

WHOOPS. Forgot the disclaimer on the first one, so I'll just do it here. Ehem. DISCLAIMER: I do not own *sobs* any of the Naruto shtuffs *goes off and cries in a corner*.

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**Chapter Two - The Battle**

_6 years later..._

Violet pulled the sleek wooden bow slowly across the strings, the sound resonating through to tall room. Her melancholy music filled the ears of those around her. The sun was just coming up on the sandy horizon, red, orange, and gold like a warm caress after the screaming and rioting of the night before.

Miss Linda, the maid, wiped a tray tear from her worn almond brown eye. "Every time..." she shook her head and a chorus of claps erupted from the small group of people sitting below Violet. She slung the violin over her back and hopped from the top bunk, her feet landing flat on the floor perfectly, as she had done it hundreds of thousands of times.

The twins, who had grown more and more attatched to her as fellow orphans came and went, where they had stayed whistles, the little girls squealed, and others called Violet's name. She bowed to her public. "Thank you, thank you."

Jasper and Drew ruffled her red, shaggy hair, making it even more scraggly. "Nice show, twerp," said Jasper and the two walked out, the younger boys following.

Isa, one of the littler girls who I had dedicated my performance to for her birthday tomorrow, same as hers, tugged on Violet's arm. Violet leaned down to hear what Isa had to say better and recieved an unexpected kiss on the cheek. "Grazie, Violeta," the little Italian girl said.

Violet was lucky. She truly was. She was dropped off at the orphanage when she was a baby. Unlike Isabel, left at the orphanage under a year ago, now turning seven. She had to endure her parents giving her up. She could remember her family.

Violet kissed the top of her little head, placing a hand on her black, braided hair. "Happy birthday, Isa."

Then, to her even greater surprise, each of the little orphan girls came up to her and planted a kiss on my cheek methodically, as if this had been planned.

She smiled and led them through the small but tall house and to the front door where sat a coat rack with many shawls, and the girls followed like little ducklings.

"Let's see..." she said and reached to pull the wool shawls from the rack, "pink for Penny," the smallest and second youngest (but only by a day) came up and grabbed the cloth, "green for Ginny," the boys finally entered through the white hallway. Jasper and Drew were the designated leaders for the boys of the orphanage while Violet was the leader of the girls. It would be completety unfair in anyone else's point of view since there were six girls and three boys, "indigo for Isa, orange for Oswald, grey for Gerald, jasper for Jasper, sandy for Sandra, black for Bella, emerald for Emerson, lilac for Lily, and dandilion for Drew," Violet grinned at Drew and gave him the shawl.

"Ha-ha," he said humorlessly and grabbed the last shawl from the rack. "And let's not forget violet for our Violet," he teased, making fun of the way she remembered who's shawl was who's.

"Thank you," she smiled tauntingly and narrowed her eyes, daring him to make a comeback and unrolling the rope that they were required to use to keep track of each other while walking through the village. She had spent hours elongating it the past few days and adding two extra rings for Penny and Isa, the girls who were now old enough to train at the Academy. Violet took the third ring from the front, bright purple and watched as Drew never broke his glare from me while picking up his ring, right in front of hers. Jasper, only an hour or so older than his brother, took the front ring and the younger kids followed in behind her, oldest to youngest. "Gerald," I called, "take good care of the girls for me, would ya?" His spot was right in front of the two newest members, so it was only natural that Violet ask this of him.

But Violet knew that he blushed.

She used the hand that wasn't clutching the ring to gesture forward. "Lead the way."

That was the final straw for Drew. He fumed and stomped toward the door, almost running over Jasper.

Jasper quickly opened the door to the snowy outside world. Winter in Sunagakure was both gorgeous and terrifying. People would shout, fight, and get drunk in the winter, seeming that there was nothing else really to do. Sometimes there would be gunshots and the girls would climb into bed with Violet. Drew pushed his brother so fast down the street that those behind them were running to catch up.

"Uh, Jasper!" Violet yelled as one of the kids tripped and fell, being dragged along the ground. Jasper looked back and shrugged. Drew was extremely strong and neither of them had a problem because they were so tall. Besides, he knew that if he stopped, Drew would push him right over.

She sighed, knowing she would have to do something fast. She knew what to do, but knew that he wouldn't like it and that she could get in huge trouble for it. She shot two strings of energy from her free index and middle fingers that wrapped around Drew's arms, pulling him back.

He stopped and gritted his teeth. "Goddamnit, Violet! You know you're not supposed to do that!"

"Lily was going to get all beat up!" she argued.

"Well, if you hadn't have pissed me off," he looked at the little girl and softened his gaze. "Fine."

Violet released him, Oswald helped Lily up, and Jasper returned to being the speed-keeper. He took little heel-toe steps.

A yell sounded from the bar across from us.

They dropped off the younger kids at the Academy. "Show 'em the ropes, guys." Violet said and they kept walking.

They made all of the stops where everyone's sensei was waiting. But Drew, Jasper, and Violet had the most honorable teachers at all. Almost every day, they got to train with Temari and Kankuro, the siblings of the Kazukage. At ages thirteen and fifteen, Jasper, Drew, and Violet were already S-rank ninja.

The large, snow covered building towered over them as they walked through the huge double doors and into the Kazekage's home where their senseis would be waiting for them. It was simple with few objects, mainly just open rooms with training equipment.

Suddenly, something caught Violet's ear. A very small noise, but noticably there. She pinpointed the sound of the breathing and turned fast, her light and dark kunai in a perfect x around a throat.

"It's my house, can't I just get a sandwich in peace?" said a voice without looking at her. It was Gaara. Was he finally back from his training? It had been five years since she'd seen him last.

"I'm sorry, my Lord. Please forgive me," Violet said and turned her head away, putting the kunai back in the knife holder tied around her thigh.

She started to walk away. Gaara widened his eyes. He knew that voice. He knew that hair.

Violet felt a hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her head, hoping she wasn't going to be in too much trouble. "I-I'm sorry-"

"No," he said, "don't be sorry." Violet blinked, not exactly sure what to do. She missed Gaara and so badly wanted to hug him, but he was the Kazekage now, and an orphan hugging the leader of her village was completely unacceptable. The boys just stared foreward.

Gaara took the liberty of making the decision for her and hugged her. She squeezed back and said, "I've missed you so much."

He let go. "Anyway, I've got to go. A group of S-ranks are coming in a few minutes and if I'm late Temari will kill me. She says that her and Kankuro have been training them and they've become very skillful, so they wanted to surprise them with a battle with the Kazekage."

She blinked and bowed. "It was good seeing you again, Kazekage, sir."

Gaara shook his head. "You can just call me Gaara." He had been warned that there would be one ninja that made it to the Puppet Brigade, but that was all. A skilled puppeteer like that might make some sort of a challenge to him, especially because Shukaku was now sucked out of him. Of course, he could still control sand. He just didn't have the sort of skill that the monster had given him anymore.

She nodded and turned. After he was out of earshot, she cursed under her breath.

"We're going to have to fight the Kazekage, aren't we?" asked Jasper.

"Yup."

"Great."

Violet knew that Drew and Jasper were going to enjoy this just a little bit, even if they didn't show it on their faces. Around two years ago, they had found out that Gaara was their cousin. One would think that that would make them go easy on him, but Gaara knew all that time and never told them or adopted them.

They continued down the hallway for a couple of minutes until they came across their teachers. "Boy, have we got a special surprise for you today," laughed Kankuro.

The two stood in front of the stadium doors. "Now, when we call your names, you will go inside and bow," whispered Temari. We all gave one nod at the same time.

Temari went inside. "May I introduce my star students, Andrew Bellmore," Drew went inside and bowed, taking off his shawl and putting it in the corner, "and Jasper Bellmore, S-rank ninjas for seven months." Jasper did the same with his.

Immediately, Gaara knew something was wrong. Didn't he just see those two in the hallway with Violet? No, of course not. Violet couldn't be an S-rank ninja at only thirteen years old, right? Those buffoons, maybe. But not Violet, she was too...

Kankuro entered. "And let me introduce my star student, Miss Violet Deka, S-rank ninja of four years."

Violet walked in, bowed, and threw her shawl and the buddy rope on the pile with Jasper and Drew's. The setting was like a forest at night with real trees and everything. Perfect.

Suddenly all of Gaara's nightmares came to life. He gritted his teeth.

"No kills. If a person could be killed by what you are about to do next, they are out. If you are almost dead or about to be killed, you will be beamed out of the stadium. It's Andrew, Violet, and Jasper versus the Kazekage. BEGIN!" said Kankuro and he closed the double doors.

**INSERT COOL FIGHT MUSIC HERE**

_Okay, _Gaara thought,_ this stadium both has its strengths and weaknesses._

Immediately after the doors closed, the three did their signature move. Violet put both hands in a position where her three middle fingers were down and her pinkies and thumbs were sticking out. She then crouched down, touched the black on her socks to each of the twins, performing a Light Bend Color Switch move and making them and herself completely black. Jasper then grabbed Violet's waist and, using a wind jutsu and their fans, Drew and Jasper flew into the trees, dropping her off on a sturdy branch. She slid two strings fro violin around her wrists.

Feeling her fellow ninja's energy fields to find where they were, Violet signaled to them by making a spinning motion with her fingers. They nodded and flew around Gaara, making a tornado and dodging sand attacks. Slowly, Gaara began to lift off the ground.

Meanwhile, Violet opened the compartment in her violin where she kept her tiny puppets and attatched one end of the string to a little soldier, tying the other end to a weak branch, all the while keeping her mind focused on the Color switch.

Like overgrown ravens in a storm, Jasper and Drew made it rain shiriken on Gaara which he easily deflected.

There was no way Kankuro would let Violet bring full-sized puppets into the arena, so she had to sneak small ones in her violin.

Drew and Jasper went in for the kill, kunai aimed straight at Gaara. But it failed as Gaara used his sand to duck out of the tornado and land safely on the ground. And as for the twins, with Gaara out of the way, they almost stabbed each other and got beamed out of the stadium. Violet could almost feel them cussing wildly.

_Then if the twins aren't the puppet masters, could it be Violet?_

"Oh, come on, Violet," said Gaara. "Can't you just come out and we'll make a truce?"

She laughed on the inside. If he thought she was that stupid, he was poorly mistaken. There had to be a winner of this battle, and it wasn't going to be him.

She launched her little soldier off the branch using her mind. When she first started learning to control the puppets she had to use her fingers, but slowly was able to do minor movements just controlling the puppets with her mind.

The tiny soldier walked forward, sneaking up behind Gaara. Fortunately his hearing wasn't quite as good as Violet's.

"If you come out now, I won't have to hurt you..." called Gaara. The puppet raised it's sword and jabbed it into Gaara's ankle. "Agh!" he yelled and turned around, plucking the little man from the wound. He laughed to himself. Puppet Brigade. Kankuro must've been kidding just to psych him out before the fight. The puppet could barely move.

He pulled the puppet hard, hoping to bring Violet down with it, but instead pulled down the weak branch and fell back on his bottom.

Violet grinned. This was exactly what she was hoping for. She shot the remaining string from her wrist and wrapped it around Gaara's neck like a hangman, pulling herself down and ontop of him. "Guess it looks like I won, doesn't it?"

Gaara blushed.

Kankuro pushed the doors open and clapped. "Well done, well done, Violet," he said to me smiling, but then gave Gaara a harsh gaze.

**END COOL FIGHT MUSIC HERE**

Violet pulled the strings back into her violin with her mind, and with a whip and snap the violin was good as new. "So what do I win?" she asked jokingly.

"Just the satisfaction that you and your team beat the Kazekage in a battle," said Temari. Neither of the siblings looked too celebratory, though.

"Haha, of course. I couldn't have done it without my team flying me up and taking the hit for me. They wouldn't have even needed me if Gaara hadn't backed out like that," Violet said to make the twins feel better and picked up the shawls and the rope from the ground, handing them out. "So, what's next?"

"Lessons are finished for today, I think."

"But we barely even got to do anything!" Drew complained.

"Just get out of here, you losers," Kankuro said jokingly and pushed the two away with his foot.

"Er, well, I'll see you around then," Violet bowed to her teachers then to Gaara. "Thank you for the fight, Gaara-sensei, Kankuro-sensei, Temari-sensei."

She laughed and put her arms around the boys' shoulders. "Come on, we don't have to pick up the kids for another hour or so. Let's go get a popsicle to celebrate!"

The three left light-heartedly.

Kankuro threw his hands into the air. "What the hell, man?!"

"What?" asked Gaara.

"You could've given her a better fight than that. Why did you hold back?" asked Temari.

"We heard what you said in the arena. Was that just a coy or did you really mean it when you asked for a truce?"

"Why is it your business, anyway?"

"Because we're their teachers. We wanted to give them a good battle to hone their skills."

Gaara rolled his eyes. "So I underestimated her? Shoot me."

"If you're going to be a great leader, you have to put your feelings aside and-"

"When I was little, I had no feelings. No feelings at all! And you guys thought I was weird. She was the only thing that mattered to me other than you guys and now you're pitting me against her? Do you want me to have feelings or not?" Gaara fumed.

Temari said softer, "We were just thinking that someday you might have to really truly fight someone that you care a lot about."

"Well for now I'll hope that never happens and I won't worry about it. Dismissed."

"But-"

"I said, dismissed."

The two walked away slightly irritated. They knew that Gaara knew he would have to fight someone he cared about in earnest. And when that day came, he wouldn't be ready for it unless he trained for it.

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Oookay. The end! ...of this chapter of course. More to come soon! :D Rate, comment, message, do whatever you have to do. Love ya!


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